Siddhartha, a Brahmin's son, is clever and well loved, yet increasingly dissatisfied with the life that is expected of him. Setting out on a spiritual journey to discover a higher state of being, his quest leads him through the temptations of luxury and wealth, the pleasure of sensual love an dthe sinister threat of death delaing snakes, until eventually, he comes to a river. There a ferryman guides him towards his destiny and to the ultimate meaning of exsitence. Inspired by Herman Hesse's profound regard for Indian transcendental philosophy and written in prose of graceful simplicity, Siddhartha is one of the most influential spiritual works of the twentieth century.